The Baden-Württemberg state association of the AfD wants to start a party exclusion against the deputy Stefan Räpple. However, the decision was not in connection with the scandal which Räpple had triggered in the morning in the Stuttgart Landtag, said a regional executive.
Accordingly, the decision is already fixed since Tuesday. Räpple had repeatedly made headlines with provocations in the past - for example, when he described his fellow politicians as "coke noses" or marched side by side with right-wing extremists in Chemnitz. Now a lawsuit against party demeaning behavior is to be started against him.
A parliamentary debate on abortions and alleged "left-ideological influences" in kindergartens had escalated in the morning when Räpple had refused to leave the room despite repeated requests.
Police officers talk to Räpple for several minutes
Trigger was a speech by the FDP faction leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke. He had said that the "intellectual forerunners of people like Mr. Räpple" had "marched through the Brandenburg Gate in a goose-step". Räpple then insisted on screaming for a public order by President of the State Parliament Muhterem Aras (Greens) against Rülke.
When this did not happen, Räpple had further disturbed and was then expelled by President of the Landtag Aras des Saales. He loudly refused with the words: "No, I'll stay here". Only after three police officers had talked for minutes on Räpple, the deputy left the hall.
Another deputy had to leave
A little later, the non-attached MP Wolfgang Gedeon was referred for interjections of the hall. He had also received two orders and then insults. Gedeon also refused to leave and was escorted out of the room by the police.
The deputy had already been noticed in the past by anti-Semitic statements. After the scandal in the morning, Räpple and Gedeon were excluded by the Landtag's presidency for the next three sessions.
According to the news agency dpa Räpple wants to defend against the party's internal proceedings. Despite withdrawals of individual members, the AFD Group with 20 deputies remains the strongest force in the Stuttgart state parliament.